While former rapper
Kevin Federline may miss the chance to appear in a Superbowl XLI commercial this
year due to the controversial content of his advertisement, fans of rap can take
solace in seeing superstar Jay-Z instead.Over
90 million viewers will see Jay-Z square off with former Miami Dolphins coach
Don Shula in a new commercial for Bud Light. The two men engage in a chess-like
high tech football game that uses holographic imagery. The
Bud spot is part of Jay-Z’s new partnership with St. Louis-based brewer Anheuser-Busch,
which was announced in Oct. 2006. The
rapper, born Shawn Carter, is co-brand director for Budweiser Select and works
with the company on marketing programs and advertising development. The
NFL’s Superbowl, which is the most watched media event of the year, will be broadcast
on CBS on Feb. 4 at 6 p.m., live from Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL.
This year, the Indianapolis Colts will face the Chicago Bears in a landmark game,
which will feature not just one, but two African-American head coaches competing
for the NFL championship for the first time in history. One
of the coaches, either the Colts’ Tony Dungy or the Chicago Bears’ Lovie Smith,
will also enter into the history books as the first African-American to win an
NFL championship ring."Being
the first black coach to lead this team, of course our players knew about it and
they wanted to help us make history," Smith told NFL.com. "So I feel
blessed to be in that position.""It
means a lot," Dungy said shortly after the Colts beat New England 38-34,
in a classic hair raising AFC championship game. "I’m very proud of being
an African-American. I’m very proud of Lovie [Smith]." Meanwhile,
Federline’s hopes to appear in a Superbowl commercial may be spiked.A
new Nationwide Mutual Insurance ad which features Federline dreaming of being
a rapper while working in a fast food restaurant may be boycotted by the National
Restaurant Association.Nationwide
planned to unveil the ad during Super Bowl XLI, but may be forced to pull the
advertisement, which the head of the National Restaurant Association labeled demeaning."Should
an ad of this nature run during the Super Bowl, we will make sure that our membership
— many of whom are customers of Nationwide — know the negative implications
this ad portrays of the restaurant industry,” National Restaurant Association
president and CEO Steven C. Anderson wrote in a letter.
